New Delhi: Cricket will once again be one of the 37 sports at the upcoming Asian Games, which will begin on September 19 in Hangzhou, China. Cricket was absent from the 2018 competition.
Overall, the sport was only featured in two other editions, in 2010 and 2014, but BCCI will be sending both a men's and a women's team to the competition for the first time ever.
India's men's and women's teams received their Asian Games fate less than a month before the start of the cricket tournament in China.
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According to their respective ICC T20I rankings as of June 1, India has qualified for both quarterfinals directly. The other teams in the men's and women's competitions that will start playing from the last eight stage are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
The men's competition will feature 18 teams and begin on September 28. The final will be played at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on October 7, two days after the Men's ODI World Cup begins.
Additionally, the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led team will play on three consecutive days: October 5 (quarterfinal), October 6 (semifinal), and October 7 (final) if they manage to advance.
The 14-team women's competition will take place prior to the men's competition. Beginning on September 19, the proceedings will continue through September 26, with the conclusion.
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The performance of the India women's team will determine Harmanpreet's future as captain since the matches at the Asiad have been given official T20I status.
The 34-year-old's poor behavior in the third and final ODI of the series against Bangladesh led to the ICC handing her a two-match suspension earlier this week.
Harmanpreet was found guilty of violating article 2.8 of the Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which deals with "showing dissent at an umpire's decision," and was fined 50% of her match fee and given three demerit points for the Level 2 offense of smashing the stumps in anger after being dismissed. She was additionally fined 25% of the match fees, and handed another demerit point.
Harmanpreet will miss the quarterfinal game and the semi-final contest because Asian Games games are officially counted under the ICC; his participation in the final is the only one that is guaranteed if the team advances to the gold medal match.
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